15 month milestones

Today was Caiden's doctor appointment for his 15 month check-up. He is 22lbs 2oz which is the 15th percentile. This is a good jump! His length/height is 31" which is the 50 percentile- again this is a jump up from his 12 month appointment. His noggin is still big at 19.24" or 90 percentile. Here are some of his latest accomplishments:
- walks well, is close to running. also walks sideways :) and has walked backwards a few times
-"helps" around the house- he like for me to hand him the clothes from the washer and he puts them in the dryer
- can scribble
-points at a desired object
-drinks from a straw or sippy cup
-can use a spoon and sometimes keep the food on it
- he has 5 signs: more, please, thank you, eat and milk
-can point to his head and mouth when asked
-understands simple commands
-can crawl up stairs, but prefers to walk up them alternating feet (holding our hands)
-is starting to kick a ball

These are the major milestones that the pediatrician was looking for at his check-up. We talked a little about his talking- and even though he doesn't really have any "words" yet, she considers the sign language to be his communication and is not concerned.

Slowly but surely

I haven't shared any scrapbook pages in awhile, so I thought I do that. I'm not making much progress, but at least its something. These pages are in our "Growing Family" book. (Keep in mind that these look better in real life. The photographing of them isn't the best)

Caiden's nursery

baby shower at my sister's

surprise shower from one of my classes

a moment of calm

To finish that book, I still need to do pages of the sonograms and when we found out he was a boy.  And I finally started Caiden's book.  I know... it's about time.  Maybe I'll be done by his 2nd birthday!

Baby blessing

proud papa

footprints

going home

sleeping

first bath

There are 2 more finished pages, but I had to scan them and the file is too big, so I'll have to play around with them. Check back later too because I need to catch up- we've celebrated 2 birthdays and have 15 month milestones since I posted last!

Fourth of July Cookout

I'm finally posting  about our Fourth of July Cookout. I had actually started it a week ago, but the picture uploader was acting up, so here it goes. 

On July 3rd, we had some friends over for a cookout. I'm not allowed to say we had a Bar-B-Que because there was not barbecue sauce on anything :) I tried to make it a little festive with some deco around the house.

 Caiden sported his patriotic name tee- an iron on I got from Etsy. I can't believe I didn't get a better picture than this of him in it.  I'll have to put it back on and take a good picture.

I tried out a new dessert. My friend, Elaine, inspired me because she does all things "semi-homemade" (She's also a great blogger- check her out at Our Semi-Homemade Life). I used refrigerated pie crust in my Baby Cakes cupcake maker, ready-to-eat cheese cake filling, some fresh berries and voila!

It was the first time that we had several people over that also had kids. While it was a little chaotic, it was fun to see the kids play together. Although it was 100+ degrees outside, we let them play in the pool and the water table for a little bit.

13 & 14 month Milestones

I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't posted any of Caiden's milestones since his birthday. In the past I've used the milestones listed in the parenting books or websites and told you what Caiden was doing. This time I'm going to tell you some of the most interesting things he's up to these days (they are interesting to me at least!)

First of all I must say that the last month has been really cool to watch him develop. In the past his physical developments have been the most noticeable, but now it's more the cognitive ones. Also, a side note for those of you who may not know... We are attempting to raise Caiden bilingually with English and Spanish. I speak to him about 80-90% of the time in Spanish at home. I don't use it as much when we are around people that don't speak spanish, but I'm starting to increase that more. We also read books and sing songs in Spanish. Eric speaks to him in English. Anyway, just wanted to mention that because some of the milestones have to do with language. Here they are:

• I ask him "que tan grande eres" (How big are you?) and he raises his hands up over his head.
• He points to his head when I ask him where it is (in Spanish).
• He waves hi and bye on command- most of the time. A couple of times it has sounded like he even said "bye"
• He waves bye to Eric when he sees him pick up his lunch box to leave for work.
• He's learned the function of light switches and door knobs. He obviously can't them by himself yet, but he likes to try.
• He can go under water for 3 seconds.
• He loves to climb up slides.
• He does the sign for "more"
• He doesn't use bottles anymore, and he's drinking milk much better.
• His favorite foods are still bread and cheese but he does like meat a lot now!
• He loves to give his mama kisses and his daddy hugs!
• He can recognize when things are upside down. He has a counting book that has possums hanging upside down and when we get to that page he always turns the book around.
• He likes to hold your hand when walking on new/unsteady surfaces.
• He says "Uh, uh" instead of "Uh oh" and he loves to say "E-I-E-I...." but never the "O"
• He recognizes people in pictures and in videos
• He sleeps about 11 hours at night and is still taking two naps (most days) about 30min-1 hour each.
• He wears size 4 shoe and most of his clothes are 12-18months although the shorts that size are pretty big on him.
• He has 5 teeth.

That's all I can think of right now.

Weekend at Nana & Papa's

Caiden and I took a weekend trip up to KC the weekend before last to spend some time with family. It had been awhile since my mom had seen him- she was so impressed with his walking!

There were some goodies waiting for him when we arrived:

He had some fun outside in the sprinkler, but I think the water was a little cold.

On Saturday we went to Deanna Rose Childrens' Farmstead.  It was really neat with so much to do for the kids. Caiden had a great time playing with cousins Addison and Ethan.

My camera died about then, so I'll have to get more picture from my mom.  We went to Crown Center where they have fountains that spray out of the ground and kids play in them.  Caiden loved it and we got some good pics so I'll post them when I get them!